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View PDF Files

Open a PDF File

Please choose one of the following to open a PDF file with Foxit PhantomPDF Mac:

Read PDF Files in Multiple Instances

By default, Foxit PhantomPDF Mac displays multiple PDF files in different tabs in a single instance. However, you can enable multiple instances mode to view PDF files in multiple instances when double-click to open PDF files, which is ideal for reading PDF side by side.

To enable multiple instances mode, choose File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PhantomPDF in the menu bar) > Preferences > Documents, check the Allow multiple instances option in Open Setting group, and click OK to apply the setting. While in multiple instances mode, you can revert to single instance mode by redoing the steps and unchecking the Allow multiple instances option.

Adjust PDF Views

Change the Page Display Mode

To change the page display mode, click View in the Ribbon (or choose View in the menu bar > Page Display), and choose any of the following options:

Read a PDF in Full Screen Mode

In Full Screen mode, Foxit PhantomPDF Document Pane fills the entire screen, with Tab and Navigation pane hidden behind. The mouse pointer remains active in Full Screen mode so that you can click links.

Set Full Screen Preferences

Before reading a PDF file in Full Screen mode, you can set the Full Screen preferences which include appearances, transitions, and panels that can be shown in the Full Screen mode.

Enter and Exit Full Screen Mode

Resize the Page View

To quickly zoom in or out on a PDF page, do any of the following:

To adjust the page at a specified size or make it to fit the document or window, do the following:

Rotate the Page View

Do one of the following to rotate the view of the document pages:

Note: The rotate view setting only temporarily changes your view of the page in 90-degree increments. If you need to change the page orientation and save the changes to the PDF file, please use the “Organize PDF Pages” features.

Change the Page Background Color

Do one of the following to change the page background color:

1. From the Preferences

2. From the document pane

View PDF/A Files

By default, Foxit PhantomPDF Mac will open PDF/A-compliant documents in PDF/A mode (i.e. read-only mode) to prevent modification. When you open a PDF/A-compliant document, a notification message will be displayed. To work with PDF/A files, do the following:

View PDF Portfolios

PDF portfolios are a combination of files with different formats such as Microsoft Office files, text documents and image files.

To view a PDF portfolio, please do the following:

Tip: Files in a PDF portfolio will be opened in its native application if you have installed the native application on your device with macOS 10.14 or higher.

Search & Index in PDFs

Find Text in the Current PDF

Use the Find tool to search and find text.

Advanced Search

Foxit PhantomPDF Mac supports the advanced search function, which enables you to do the following: search a string in a single PDF file, multiple PDF files under a specified folder, PDFs in a PDF portfolio, or a PDF index. When the search finishes, all occurrences will be listed in a tree view. This will allow you to quickly preview the context and jump to specific locations. You can also save the search results as a CSV or PDF file for further reference.

Before doing an advanced search, you can go to File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PhantomPDF in the menu bar) > Preferences > Search to specify search preferences.

Search for Text and Patterns

Tip: The additional search criteria options are collapsed by default. You can click More to show all the options. To keep expanding and displaying the additional search criteria options all the time, please go to File in the Ribbon (or Foxit PhantomPDF in the menu bar) > Preferences > Search, and check the Always show more options in advanced search option in the Search group.

Note:

Search and Highlight

After searching, users may need to mark up the searched text strings in a highlight color. With Foxit PhantomPDF Mac’s Search & Highlight feature, users can perform an advanced search and highlight the searched text strings with one click.

Search PDF Indexes

If your PDF document or document collections include a full-text index, you can improve your search efficiency by simply searching the index for target words rather than each document separately. Steps are as follows:

Note: If the index file is not available or does not work, the search will fail. To create or revise an index, please refer to Create PDF Indexes.

Create PDF Indexes

When you are trying to search text in a long PDF document or multiple PDF files, it is much faster to search a PDF index, instead of searching the document(s). With Foxit PhantomPDF Mac, you can create an embedded index for a single PDF, or create a full-text index for multiple PDFs.

Create an Embedded Index in a PDF

For a PDF document that includes an embedded index, you can search the document as you always do through the Advanced Search feature, but it will be much faster than you search a regular PDF without an embedded index. (Note: Before searching a document with an embedded index, you need to select the Enable embedded index option in the File tab(or Foxit PhantomPDF in the menu bar) > Preferences > Index.)

Add an Embedded Index to a PDF

Update or Remove the Embedded Index in a PDF

You can update or remove the embedded index if the document has been changed.

Create a Full-text Index for Multiple PDFs

Foxit PhantomPDF Mac enables you to define a collection of PDFs as a catalog and create a full-text index for the cataloged PDFs, allowing you to search that index through the Advanced Search feature. See also “Search PDF Indexes”.

Create a Full-text Index

Note: The settings above apply to the current index only. To apply these settings to all indexes, please do the settings in the File tab (or Foxit PhantomPDF in the menu bar) > Preferences > Index.

Revise an Existing Index

Take a Snapshot of Selected PDF Contents

Use the Snapshot tool to take a snapshot of selected PDF contents and paste it in other applications.

Navigate PDF Files

Jump to a Specific Page

Use the page navigation tools on the status bar at the bottom to jump to a specific page easily.

Page indicator: Shows the current page and the total number of pages of the opened PDF file. To jump to the page specified, you can input the page number and press Enter, or click the Down arrow  and select a page number from the list.

Previous Page: Jump to the previous page.

Next Page: Jump to the next page.

Tip: Alternatively, you can go to View in the menu bar > Go to, and then choose one option from the drop-down menu to jump to a specific page. From the drop-down menu, you can also choose to jump to the first page or the last page of the PDF file.

Jump to the Previous View or Next View

Do one of the following to go to the preview view or next view:

Jump to a Specific Chapter by Bookmark

Jump to a Page by Thumbnail

Open a File Attachment

Open a file attachment embedded in a PDF file

Open a file attachment pinned in the PDF file

The file attachment pinned in the PDF file is usually displayed with a pin icon. You can double-click the pin icon to open it with Foxit PhantomPDF Mac.

Compare PDF Files

The Document Compare feature lets you see the differences in two versions of a PDF.

Compare Two Versions of a PDF File

Check Comparison Results

Once the documents are analyzed, a PDF document named “The result of Comparison.pdf” will be automatically created and opened in a new tab within the application window, and the Compare File panel appears on the right of the document pane. When checking the comparison results, you can click the Compare button  in the View tab to show or hide the Compare File panel.

The result document arranges pages side by side showing Old File and New File with the changes marked by different icons and colors. The first page shows a summary of the comparison results including the total number and the marks for different changes. The second page shows the detailed comparison results including the names and sizes of Old File and New File, time compared, and the classification of changes, with a color legend in the upper right corner.

To check the comparison results in detail, please do the following: